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Government Fleet Market Trends

Market Trends offers insightful examinations of current fleet industry trends and developments, emphasizing practical, real-world impacts and applications for the professional fleet manager. In addition to zeroing in on today’s fleet realities, Market Trends also provides a “peak over the horizon,” looking to the future to identify emerging issues and trends that will affect and influence fleet management in the near and long term.

Fleet Management is more than Managing Assets, It is Also Managing People

When people think of fleet management, they typically associate it with asset management. The reality is the majority of a fleet manager's time is often spent dealing with personnel and interdepartmental issues. How you deal with these issues influences shop morale, user department relationships, and management's opinion of your effectiveness as fleet manager. In the final analysis, successful people management equates to successful fleet management.

Get Out of Your Chair and Walk the Shop

As a public sector fleet manager, your primary job is managing assets and services provided to user departments. However, as some fleet managers can attest, as much as 60 percent of their time is consumed by personnel issues. In many respects, this is the hardest part of being a fleet manager. Here are real-world suggestions on how to deal with these personnel issues.

No Doom & Gloom: Fleet Managers Must be Leaders

The current economic situation is forcing public sector fleet managers to take a hard look at how they operate their fleets and make adjustments to cope with budgetary shortfalls. Savvy fleet managers know their local and state tax revenue forecasts for the immediate and long-term future. These fleet managers have contingency budget strategies planned before upper management directs them to cut costs or reduce capital purchases.

Obama’s Stimulus Package Offers Funds for Fleet

On Feb. 17, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The $789 billion economic stimulus legislation is comprised of $507 billion in spending programs and $282 billion in tax relief. The legislation includes significant new funding for fleets, such as $300 million for diesel emission retrofit grants; $300 million to establish a grant program through the DOE's Clean Cities Program; and $300 million for acquisition of energy-efficient vehicles by the federal fleet

Make Your Fleet More Accountable

How do you prove you are doing a good job? You may think you manage a well-run fleet, but do you have the metrics to substantiate this assertion? If your fleet organization can’t quantify its performance to management and politicians, they, most likely, will not appreciate the value of the services provided. Fleet managers must hold themselves accountable. In fact, fleet managers should embrace increased accountability because it will make you a better fleet manager.

Policy Exceptions are Lawsuits Waiting to Happen

The best managed fleets are those that adhere to a written fleet policy. A common problem is that the fleet manager communicates policy to the users’ managers, but the word doesn’t gets down to the individual drivers and operators. When dealing with driver-related problems, the last thing you want to do is create a new problem in the course of resolving one. The surest way to do so is to make an exception to your fleet’s vehicle and equipment usage policy.

Budget Shortfalls are Opportunities in Disguise

Steep declines in tax revenues are resulting in budget cuts at all levels of government, which most likely will persist for the next 12 to 24 months. These budget shortfalls are particularly acute at general fund departments. Adjusting fleet budgets to cope with revenue shortfalls gives fleet managers an opportunity to demonstrate their leadership abilities.

<small><u>Public Sector Fleets:</small></u><br>Take-Home Vehicles: Ending the Culture of Entitlement

When the price of fuel is low and budgets are flush, the issue of take-home vehicles slips under the public radar. However, today’s elevated fuel prices and stretched budgets are prompting the local media and elected officials to question unnecessary use of government vehicles. As a result, there have been a number of backlashes against take-home vehicles around the country.

<small><u>Public Sector Fleets:</small></u><br>Fleet’s Carbon Footprint Extends Beyond Vehicles & Equipment

Last November, more than 700 mayors signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in Seattle, committing to reduce carbon emissions in their localities to 7-percent below 1990 levels by 2012. This goal is in line with the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty that seeks to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Fleet operations around the U.S. have stepped up to the plate to help accomplish this goal.

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